Starting with a dynamically streamlined
work of architecture that is also intended to embody the owner’s corporate
philosophy based around innovation, AB Medica commissioned DEGW to design a new
Space Planning and Interior Design project capable of measuring up to Giuseppe
Tortato’s project: an unusual layout, partly due to constraints deriving from
the elongated triangular-shaped building lot, optimising the all the spaces.

The space planning for the offices area was
aimed at making the most of all the surface areas and different depths of each
floor, setting out the workstations (enclosed and open space) around the
perimeter of the space, which, in turn, is focused around an elaborate central
support hub: a so-called diffused Hub consisting of a photocopying area, break
area, lockers, niche informal areas and meeting rooms, which wind around a long
and sinuous customised bench accommodating touchdown stations and creating a
mixed-use environment, where formal work comes together with more spontaneous
and informal activities, exploiting the comfort provided by natural wells of
light shining through skylights and triangular internal patios.

The Interior Design, which, at the time the
commission was made, already included plenty of finishing features chosen by
the Client (such as the floors and false ceilings), was focused around new
finishes to be incorporated in the relevant spaces (even including
custom-designed floors), the concept for a company canteen, the position and
ideal layout of the reception desk, and the general feel and mood of the colour
schemes and materials for all the building’s new spaces. A mood and feel which,
in tune with the character of Tortato’s architectural design and corporate
values, was based on a palette of two main colours: fluid watery colours and
cool technological shades, enhanced by qualities like transparency, care,
reliability and comfort deriving from the materials used.

Special features were studied for the
reception, whose main desk also evokes the smoothly flowing forms of a boat,
and the ground-floor reception/canteen area: here the company canteen
(featuring a combination of niche chairs and more conventional tables) and an
area accommodating meeting rooms, open-space stations and informal areas, come
together to provide multiple potential uses beyond any kind of binary logic of
productivity and leisure, work and rest. Immediately upon entering the
building, attention is focused on psychophysical well-being in the work
environment, which informs the entire project.